


Surprise

by alessandralee



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Anniversary, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 09:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4619670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Mal and Ben's first anniversary, and she's starting to worry that he forgot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise

Mal and math were not on good terms. History she found interesting, for all that it was a constant reminder that her mother’s version history was often a lie. She liked science experiments, especially ones that made things explode. And her ballroom dancing elective was surprisingly fun, and incredibly practical, considering the sheer amount of formal events held at Castle Beast.

Math, however, was a constant thorn in her side, requiring plenty of Evie’s coaching, either after dinner or at lunch.

But tonight Evie was out with Lonnie, picking out materials for a dress for an upcoming dance. Mal spent most of her evening struggling to get through the first half of the problems, before reaching the point of total exhaustion.

Evie’s homework, long since finished, sits on her desk. Fifteen trigonometry problems, with full, detailed work, in Evie’s neat handwriting. It’s practically calling to her, begging for her to just give up and copy it.

But Mal refuses to give into temptation. Instead, she shoves her own work into her school bag, and pulls on her headphones. It’s almost curfew, Evie will be back soon to walk her through the rest.

In the meantime, she has a playlist full of songs from Ben that are supposed to introduce her to the hit songs of Auradon. It’s like studying pop culture.

And some of it is even good.

Evie bands on the door to the their room five minutes before curfew. Mal barely hears it above the sound of her music, but when she opens the door, Evie’s arms are overflowing with a rainbow assortment of fabrics.

Sometimes Mal things that Evie’s favorite thing about Lonnie is the fact that she lets Evie makes clothes for her in colors other than blue or purple. That and she knows way more gossip that Mal does.

“I’m mad at you,” Evie announces as she dumps her purchases onto her bed.

She doesn’t sound like she means it.

“Okay,” Mal says, a little confused. She leans over Evie’s shoulder to pick up a purple bolt of fabric that catches her eye. It’s mauve, and soft to her touch. “Why?”

“Because you,” Evie spins around, clothing design temporarily forgotten, “completely neglected to mention that you’re and Ben’s anniversary is on Saturday. I had to find out from Lonnie. How am I supposed to make you something to wear in three days?”

Oh, right. This Saturday’s date has had a big red circle around it since January, put there by Ben when she got the calendar.

Mal’s been trying not to the think about. A year of dating Ben means a year since she left the Isle of the Lost. Sometimes it feels like just a few days ago, and sometimes it feels like an eternity.

“It’s okay, I forgive you,” Evie says, as if that wasn’t totally obvious. No one’s taken to being good as easily or as enthusiastically as she has. “Just tell me what he has planned. I hope it’s not horseback riding. I might have enough of that eggplant leather for capris, but I’ll be cutting it close.”

She looks at Mal expectantly, forcing her to admit, “I don’t know.”

“So it’s a surprise?” Evie’s face lights up. “I love surprises. They’re a little hard to prepare for, not that Ben would understand that, he has a full staff to make sure his closet has the perfect outfit for every occasion.” 

She rolls her eyes and Mal doubts that any seamstress in the Castle, or even the kingdom, could hold a candle to Evie.

“No,” Mal says, cutting Evie off and she rambles on about plum colored cotton dresses. “He hasn’t even mentioned it.”

“That’s not like Ben,” Evie sounds puzzled. “I’m sure he has something planned.” As she’s done a lot in the past year, she moves straight in to reassure Mal. “After all, this is the guy who tried to throw you a ball for your seventeenth birthday.”

Evie certainly has a point there. Ben is Mr. Romantic, lover of secluded picnics and cheesy poetry. There’s no way he’d forget their anniversary. And for the most part, Mal isn’t worried.

“You know, this is probably just like this book I read,” Evie intuitively picks up on Mal’s tiny speck of insecurity. “The girl’s totally convinced that her boyfriend forgot her birthday, but it turned out he’s throwing her a huge party.”

Now that sounds like Ben, Mal has to admit. This is the guy who had to be talked into settling for group karaoke instead of that ball he wanted to throw.

“I’m sure it’s something like that,” Mal agrees, shoving that tiny bit of doubt into a corner.

“Or maybe he sent you a formal invitation and the Castle courier lost it,” Evie suggests.

“I’m not worried,” Mal tells her, cutting her off before she can spout off every possible reason why Ben hasn’t mentioned their anniversary. “But you know what does worry me? Math homework.”

\--

It’s a lot easier to be confident your boyfriend hasn’t forgotten your anniversary three days beforehand. On the day of, it’s a little difficult.

She saw Ben last night, after the tourney game, and, once again, he didn’t mention a thing. Yes, they’d had a great time just hanging out with all of their friends. Even Chad had been more tolerable than usual.

But Mal had spent the whole night anxiously waiting for Ben to drop even the smallest hint today. He’d mentioned a morning meeting and a lunchtime taste test for an upcoming banquet. Her hopes of him even asking about her weekend plans had amounted to nothing.

She went to bed as soon as she got back to her room, not wanting to deal with any questions from Evie.

Speaking of Evie, Mal woke up Saturday morning to a note from her best friend saying she thought Mal would want her beauty sleep, so she went out with Lonnie and Jane.

Like being blown off by her boyfriend wasn’t bad enough, Mal really would have appreciated having Evie around to calm her fears.

She tried telling herself that she’s just being paranoid, that Evie’s absence definitely means that the surprise party theory is true.

It doesn’t help. Mal seriously considers storming down to the Castle and demanding to know how Ben could possibly forget their anniversary.

Instead, she tries to distract herself with an early lunch, then one of Evie’s magazines, then one of Carlos’s videogames, then a nap.

When she wakes up from her (fitful, uncomfortable) nap, more irritable than before, there’s a bouquet of yellow roses on her desk.’

Butterflies erupt in her stomach. Ben didn’t forget.

 _Your carriage awaits at 6PM_ , the attached notecard reads. _PS, I think Evie made you something to wear. Check her closet._

Of course Evie was in on this.

A quick check of Evie’s closet produces a dress in the mauve colored fabric Mal saw a few days ago. She’s sitting in front of Evie’s mirror, trying to sort out her hair and makeup when Evie returns.

“I think you could show up with a bird’s nest on your head,” she says from the doorway, “and Ben wouldn’t care.”

Nevertheless, the brushes out Mal’s hair and helps her apply a little blush and lip-gloss, all while refusing to divulge any details.

“It’s a surprise,” she says with a smile. “Don’t worry, you’ll like it.”

Mal is waiting outside the doors of Auradon Prep when a fancy Castle limo pulls up. Mal wants Ben to be waiting inside, so she can yell at him for making her think he forgot the anniversary. Unfortunately, it’s just her and the driver.

When the limo door opens in a very familiar part of the forest, Ben is waiting for her.

“I wanted to drive you myself,” he explains, “but apparently only prince’s can drive mopeds. It’s too dangerous for kings.”

He sounds so disappointed and he looks so cute that Mal can feel her frustrations melting away.

She takes in her surroundings.

“Is this…?”

“The same place as our first date?” he replies. “I’m glad you notices. Now let’s get going; we’ve got a lake to hike to.”

He takes her hand and, much like Mal remembers, it’s less of a hike and more of a pleasant stroll to the Enchanted Lake.

Ben catches her up on his most recent meetings, the plans for the visit from Rapunzel and Eugene, and his parents’ vacation. She teases him about hiding his anniversary plans and he at least looks like he feels guilty about it.

Sunset over the Enchanted Lake is gorgeous, and their picnic is delicious. Mal’s eaten at Castle Beast plenty of times over the last year, and every time the chef makes something even better than before.

Dessert is an elaborate strawberry shortcake, with whipped cream topping shaped like castle turrets. It’s as beautiful as it is tasty, and leaves Mal feeling pleasantly full.

“What, no swimming?” she jokes when Ben takes off his shoes, rolls up his pant-legs and dips his feet into the water. It’s getting dark now, but he’s already lit plenty of candles for them to see by.

“I brought swimsuits,” he tells her, “but I’m so full that if I got in the water I think I’d just sink.”

 Mal kicks of her shoes and joins him, saying, “Well, we can’t have that.”

He pats the spot next to him.

Mal kicks off her shoes and joins him, saying, “Well, we can’t have that.”

They sit in silence, just enjoying each other’s company for a time. It’s nice to actually be alone together. Between school, and tourney, and his kingly duties, Ben’s been really busy lately. While they do manage to see quite a bit of each other, there’s usually a small crowd of people around.

“I got you something,” Ben says right as Man’s sure she’s peaceful enough to doze off.

She lifts her head off his shoulder so that he can scrounge around behind one of the pillars for his gift.

“You didn’t have to,” she tells him, suddenly realizing that, in all her agonizing over today, she hadn’t gotten him a gift. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“You’re here,” he says, coming back with his hands hidden behind his back. “That’s enough.”

Ben knows that while Mal might be at Auradon Prep on a full scholarship, that doesn’t leave much spare change for gifts.

“Really, you didn’t have to buy my anything,” Mal insists, now feeling embarrassed.

“I didn’t,” Ben holds out one hand to help Mal to her feet.

Moving the other hand out from behind his back, he shows Mal the same glowing rock from their first date.

“See, just a rock,” he tells her. “It took some effort to find it again, but I didn’t pay a penny.”

He drops the stone into her hand, and Mal gets a much better look at it than she did the first time around. It gives off an impressive amount of light, probably the result of residual magic from years ago.

“Make a wish,” Ben tells her. “For real this time.”

Right now, at this exact moment, Mal doesn’t have much to wish for. A good grade on her math test, maybe, but that seems too mundane for the occasion.

Then it hits her.

Silently, she wishes that all of this lasts. She wants Auradon to continue to feel like home the way it has this past year. School, her friends, Ben, it’s all been more magical than any fairy godmother’s wand.

Just as she’s reading to throw the rock, Ben grabs her hand.

“Don’t worry about wishing for an end to anniversary surprises,” he tells her. “Evie mentioned that you were a little freaked out. I’ll give you more notice next time.”

Next time. Their two-year anniversary. What a perfect sentiment to accompany her wish.

Mal smiles and nods, and Ben lets go of her hand. Gently, she tosses the rock back into the lake.

“Are you going to tell me what you wished for?” Ben asks, unrolling his pants and pulling on his socks.

“But that means it won’t come true,” Mal replies. Jane was the first person to mention that particular Auradon superstition to her.

Ben pouts as he brings over a blanket. It’s getting chilly, but they’ve still got some time until the weekend curfew. Neither one of them is ready to go home.

“Not even a hint?” he asks, bundling them up in warm fleece.

“Not even a hint,” she echoes.


End file.
